Sofa convertible into a bed having upright moving hinge means for the back rest



PM: 3,483,343 SOFA CONVERTIBLE INTO A BED HAVING UPRIC-HT MOVING 5 Sheets-Shee 1.

U. LUCERO HINGE MEANS FOR THE BACK REST q 5 19$? U LUCERO n son CONVERTIBLE INTO A BED HAVING UPRIGHT MOVING HINGE MEANS FOR THE BACK BEST 4, 1967 3 Sheets-Shee+ Filed Jan.

Dec. 16, 19%? u. LUCERO 3,41%35??? SOFA CONVERTIBLE INTO A BED HAVING UPRIGHT MOVING HINGE MEANS FOR THE BACK REST Filed Jan. 4, 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Unite States Patent 0 f 3,433,573 SOFA CQNVERTEBLE INTO A BED HAVING UPRZGHT MOVING MEANS FUR THE BACK REST Ulrieo Lueero, 1252 Cafayate St, Buenos Aires, Argentina Filed Jan. 4, I967, Ser. No. $37,313 Int. Cl. A4'7c 17/16 US. Cl. 519 5 Claims ABSTRACT 0F THE DISCLOSURE A sofa convertible into a bed has a substantially hori zontally movable seat and a back rest hinged firstly to the seat and hinged secondly to an uprightly movably guided hinge means. The distance between the first and second hinging, and the paths of the hinges, determines the movement of the back rest.

The present invention relates to improvements in sofas that can be converted into beds, of the type comprising a frame with legs, a seat upon said frame, the front portion of which seat rests directly upon said frame and its rear portion rests by means of at least two wheels upon corresponding rolling races provided in said frame, means for locking the seat to the frame that oppose the sliding of said seat towards the front of the frame, and that can be disengaged by raising the front portion of the seat above the frame, a back hingedly connected to the seat through means that determine an axis of rotation of said back relative to the seat, which substantially coincides with the intersection between the upper side of the seat and the front side of the back, said back being angularly displaceable towards a horizontal position in which its front side lies substantially in the same plane as the upper side of the seat and rests upon the rear portion of said frame, said frame and back including means for supporting and guiding the back, adapted to support it in the upright position, forming an angle with the seat and to guide it in its angular displacement from said upright position to the horizontal position and vice versa.

The sofas of the above type known up to the present require lateral members that may be used as arm rest, wherein are included the means referred to for supporting and guiding the back.

The principal object of this invention is to obtain an arrangement of means that allow to perform the same functions of supporting and guiding the back but without utilizing lateral members, thus allowing to shorten the length of the sofa practically to the length of the seat, which is what is really used as a bed, since the lateral members in conventional sofas simply constitute heads and unnecessarily increase the size of this piece of furniture.

In order to facilitate the description of the invention, one of the preferred embodiments of this sofa that can be converted into a bed is shown in several figures, as a non-limitative example, being:

FIGURE 1, a fragmentary rear view in perspective of an end of the sofa.

FIGURE 2, a fragmentary front view in perspective of the same end of the sofa.

FIGURE 3, an end elevational view of said end of the sofa.

FIGURE 4, a sectional view showing the seat and the back of the sofa at an intermediate position of its movement for converting the sofa into a bed.

FIGURE 5, a large scale fragmentary sectional view showing the reinforcement of the structure of the back.

FIGURE 6, a large scale longitudinal sectional view 3,483,573 Patented Dec. 16, I969 of one of the telescopic members for supporting and guiding the back.

FIGURE 7 is a sectional view, similar to FIGURE 4 but showing the sofa in seat forming position.

Same symbols indicate similar or corresponding elements or parts throughout the figures.

The sofa convertible into a bed wherein the inverted improvements have been carried out consists mainly of the following elements:

A frame a formed by an elongated rectangular case having two longitudinal pieces, a front one 1 and a rear one 2, and corresponding end cross pieces 3, which can eventually include a bottom 4 to form a drawer for keep ing clothes, and is supported up on the floor by means of four legs a.

A seat b formed by a substantially rigid frame 5 placed up on said frame a, supported at its front portion by the top of the front longitudinal piece 1 and at its rear portion by means of corresponding wheels or casters 6 located at the corners, which roll over the top end crosspieces 3 of the frame; these top portions provide raceways for the related wheels 6 of the seat, allowing said seat to be displaced towards the front by pulling the front portion of the seat, after this portion has been slightly raised in order to disengage the locking established with the front longitudinal piece of the frame through two latches 7 projecting from the bottom side of said frame 5 of the seat, said latches being provided for preventing the displacement of the seat towards the front when in sofa position.

A mattress 8, of rubber foam for instance, is applied over said frame 5 of the seat, the whole assembly beingsuitably upholstered.

A back or back rest 0 built in the same fashion as the seat e and formed by its own foam 9 upon which is applied a rubber mattress It), the whole assembly being suitably upholstered.

The seat and back are hingedly connected together by means of related end hinges 11 which provide a hinging axis 12 that is close and nearly coincident with the lower edge of the front side of the back and the rear edge of the top side of the seat, which edges thus remain substantially together at any angle formed by the seat and the back. That is to say, said virtual hinging axis coincides with the line of intersection of said sides of the seat and the back.

In addition to these elements, other means are included for keeping the seat in the upright position when in sofa position and for providing its lowering to a flat position in the same plane with the seat, simply by displacing said seat towards the front of frame a, when converting into a bed.

The instant invention relates to the above mentioned means.

These means for supporting and guiding the back comprise two supporting telescopic members d located at the inner side of the corners of the frame.

Each of these supporting telescopic members d has its own base 13 located at the angle formed by the rear longitudinal piece 2 with each end crosspiece 3 and has two wings 14 at right angles, which are secured to said crosspieces by means of screws.

Each of said telescopic members (1 forms with its base 13 the same angle that the back has normally and fits in a slot 15 of frame 9 of the back, being articulated at its end to said back by means of a pin 16 crossing said slot; said articulation is located well above the aforesaid axis of hinging between the seat and the back, in such a manner that said telescopic members support the back at its rear part preventing any swinging forwards or backwards when the seat is locked to the frame of the sofa by means of the latches 7.

In the embodiment illustrated, the frame 9 of the back is formed by two horizontal longitudinal bars, an upper one 17 and a lower one 18, connected by means of two end crossbars 19 and a plurality of intermediate crossbars 20; the intermediate crossbar 20 located adjacent to each end crossbar 19 is sufiiciently spaced therefrom to leave room for the respective telescopic supporting member, and the lower longitudinal bar 18 terminates in this intermediate crossbar 20', whereby the separation between said two crossbars is left open at the lower part of the frame and thus forms the referred to slot 15.

The lower end 19 of crossbar 19 is connected to the lower longitudinal bar 18, in order not to leave said end loose, which would weaken the lateral ends of the back; said connection is made by means of a thin but strong metal plate 21 fixed to the front part of frame 9, fitted into a corresponding cut and is secured to both ends, of the crossbar 19 and of the longitudinal bar 18, by means of screws 22.

Each of said telescopic supporting members d comprises three sections; a first section is formed by its own base 13 having a straight hole open at both ends, inside which fits slidably a second or intermediate section 24 formed by a cylindrical tube piece that projects above said base; a third or upper section 25 fits slidably inside said intermediate section and projects outside the same, terminating in a small head 25' having a transversal opening through which passes the pin 16. This upper section 25 is also formed by a tubular piece.

The upper section 25 and the intermediate section 24 are connected together by means of a slidable rod 26 which projects from the lower end of the upper section that fits inside the intermediate section and its object is to limit the upward movement of the section 25.

This rod 26 is of smaller diameter than the tube of the upper section 25 of the telescopic member and passes through a central orifice at the lower end of said section and has an inner annular cover or edge 25" which provides an abutment for the head 26 at the end of said rod located within the section; the rod 26 fits loosely inside the tube of the intermediate section 24 and slidably passes through a central orifice located at the lower end of this section that has an inner annular edge 24' which provides an abutment for a head 26 that the rod 26 has at the end of its portion located inside said intermediate section 24.

This head 26" of rod 26 is preferably constituted by a nut threaded at the respective end by said rod.

The referred swinging is thus only possible when the seat is displaced forwards, after disengaging the lock of the latches 7 from the top of the front longitudinal piece 1 of frame a.

When the seat is displaced forwards, the lower part of the back moves forward together with the seat thus allowing its own weight of the back to produce the simultaneous and progressive retraction of the telescopic supporting members, as shown in FIGURE 4, until said back is positioned horizontally in the same plane as the seat, supported upon the rear part of frame a.

When the telescopic members of support d retract, the intermediate section projects underneath base 13 passing through an orifice at the bottom of the frame and approaches the floor, while the upper section retracts within same.

In order to return the back to its upright position, the edge thereof is pulled upwards, whereby said telescopic members are stretched out and at the same time the back turns around its articulation with these members and since these cannot swing forwards, the rotation of the back produces a pull on the seat and draws it backwards upon the frame, until its latches 7 lock again, on the top of front longitudinal piece 1 of the frame.

No doubt that when this invention is carried out, some modifications can be introduced in relation to some details of construction and of accomplishment of the improvements of sofas convertible into bed, but never departing from the fundamental principles clearly set forth in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A sofa convertible into a bed comprising a frame having two raceways, a seat supported by said frame inciuding two casters engaging said raceways and being movable substantially horizontally between a forward bed position and a rearward sofa position, respectively, latching means operable for releasably keeping said seat in the seat position, a back rest hinged about a first axis of rotation to said seat and being movable with said seat between bed and sofa positions, respectively, whereby said first axis moves in a substantially horizontal plane, and binge support means comprising hinge means pivoted to said back rest about a second axis of rotation spaced from said first axis for a certain distance, and telescoping means guiding said second axis along an upright pane, whereby the movement of said back rest between the sofa and bed positions will be determined by the planes of said axes and by said certain distance.

2. A sofa, as c'aimed in claim 1, said hinge means comprising two hinges, said telescoping means comprising two upright telescoping supporting members, said back rest defining two rear slots each receiving in the sofa poslion a telescoping supporting member.

3. A sofa, as claimed in claim 2, each of said telescoping supporting members including two tubular pieces one slidably fitting into the other, and limiting means restricting the elongation of said supporting member inc uding a rod inside said tubular pieces, each of said tubular pieces including a cover defining an orifice, said rod projecting through said orifices, and a member secured near each end to said rod and being so dimensioned as normally restrained from passing through the respective orifice thereby limiting the relative outward movement of said tubular members.

4. Improvements in sofas convertible into beds according to claim 2, wherein said back rest comprises a rear frame that is substantially rigid, with an elastic mattress applied upon the front side of same, this frame comprising two horizontal longitudinal bars, an upper one and a lower one, two end crossbars and a plurality of intermediate crossbars, said lower longitudinal bar terminating at the ends of the intermediate crossbars that are adjacent to the end crossbars, the spacing between each of these end crossbars and the adjacent intermediate crossbar forming the slot for receiving the corresponding telescopic supporting member.

5. Improvements in sofas convertible into beds, according to the lower end of each end crossbar of said frame of the back being rigidly connected to the adjacent end of the lower longitudinal bar by means of said metal plate that is secured to the front side of said frame and bridges the gap between said end crossbar and the adjacent crossbar, said metal plate located before the telescopic supporting member contained within said slot.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,354,540 10/1920 Dixon 5l7 3,113,325 l2/l963 Kamp 5l'.-' 3,171,684 3/1965 Carte 548 X CASMIR A. NUNBERG, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 547; 297- 

